The trio strolled down the sidewalks back to their street, wrapped up in idle conversation. On their way home, several shops had ended up catching Vinyl’s eye, consequently causing them to make frequent stops. The temperature began to drop to lower than it had already been that day, and they all were beginning to shiver slightly. The streetlights were on by now, illuminating the slight darkness that had began to set over Canterlot. It wasn’t long before they turned the corner onto their street, which remained void of activity.
Octavia looked up at the sky and frowned. Their trip had taken a lot more time than she thought it was going to. “I really should be getting back home now actually.”
“Already?” Vinyl pouted.
“If I get home any later, there are certain individuals who wouldn’t be thrilled by it,” Octavia gestured towards her home, before wrapping Vinyl in a quick hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Vinyl and Lyra watched Octavia dash off down the street. Vinyl shuffled around a bit, all of her enthusiasm and cheer from just a few moments ago felt gone to her. “Let’s just go back to your home now.”
Lyra nodded, not having heard all of Vinyl’s words due to a sudden gust of wind. “Sounds good to me.”
They closed the short distance to the house, and Lyra opened the door, quickly stepping inside out of the cold. Lyra collapsed onto the couch, stretching herself out. “Why does it have to be so cold here?”
Vinyl seemed rather unamused at Lyra's antics.
"Where are your parents anyways?" Vinyl asked. "I thought they were supposed to be home by now."
Lyra's smile faltered for a second. "This happens sometimes," she said waving a hoof. "It's not a big deal, they'll probably be home soon."
Several hours later, the Heartstrings still hadn't returned. Which had forced the embaressed Lyra to make dinner for the two of them.
The pair had eaten dinner in relative silence. Only interrupted when Lyra was reassuring Vinyl that their parents were indeed coming home. Vinyl noticed that Lyra was shifting around nervously for the majority of the meal as well. She vaguely wondered if it was because of her and not just her parent's absence.
They apologized to Vinyl, saying they had been held up on their way out and simply lost track of time. The plain truth was, Vinyl's impressions of them were already flimsy.
Any bravado that had disappeared from Lyra earlier had returned in full force. With her spouting off about random things without any real reason and trying her best it seemed to distract Vinyl from something.
Vinyl shrugged it off, attributing it to her tired conscience. She said goodnight to everyone and headed upstairs to her room, turning off her lights and flopping onto her bed.
To Vinyl, not much had really changed from moving to here so far with adults. At least the other ponies her age seemed nicer than back in her old home. All of the two she had met so far. And it was really just one new pony in retrospect.
In her old school, she had grown up with plenty of friends. Between middle school and high school though, standards had seemed to have changed without her even realizing it.
Suddenly her friends weren't able to hang out as often as they used to, claiming schoolwork to be the reason.
Then there was the topic of relationships. In a little over a year she had multiple exes that had barely lasted a week.
Ideas began to pop into her head every time she broke up or was broken up with. Am I not good enough? Is there something wrong with me? Is it my fault things didn't work out?
Complete and utter panic. Then a few days later, she'd be dating someone else again.
She wasn't sure why she kept on the way she did, but she had. The idea of not having someone to say she "loved" was terrifying. And she expected the same back. Vinyl wanted to believe they weren't incapable of trusting each other. She wanted to believe they weren't expecting anything from her because she dated around. She wanted to believe she wasn't lying to herself.
It was easier now, away from the source of her discomforts. Away from all the ponies in her old school. Away from the stress and anxiety her father presented. Right now, life seemed to be on an upward trend for her.
Plus there was the idea of having a family again. She hadn't been with the Heartstrings that long yet, but felt comfortable being around. She made sure to be more careful around them though, she didn't want to make the same type of mistake again with trusting in others too easily.
Vinyl rolled over on her side and sighed, sleep seemed impossible to her right now. It had been for a while. She reached to her side blindly in the dark, feeling for her laptop. It took her a bit before she pulled it over to her and flipped open the screen.
She began to play around with various instrument noises and other assorted sounds. It was going to be a long night.
In the room just adjacent to her, Lyra was struggling with a very similar problem. She opted instead for just staring at the ceiling with music playing softly from her radio.
Her thoughts were more focused on the day's events rather than the distant past however.
She wasn't sure how much worse the night could have gone. The Vinyl Scratch that had been there during the day was definitely not the same one that had stayed once Octavia had left to go home.
During the entire day, she was sure Vinyl had gravitated towards Octavia. Lyra didn't feel like she knew all that much more about Vinyl except that she still seemed like an okay mare.
That was the problem. Then later, Lyra felt like she had been invisible back home to Vinyl. She wasn't Lyra, foster sister. She felt more like Lyra, Octavia's friend.
If Lyra hadn't known Octavia she was sure that Vinyl wouldn't have said nearly as much to her as she had. Vinyl might have even hated her, there was no way to be sure.
Vinyl had essentially locked herself up when Octavia left. Lyra assumed it had something to do with their familiarity with each other. She couldn't be certain though, maybe Vinyl had simply been worn out from her whole ordeal.
I'll have to get to know Vinyl at her own pace, Lyra decided. Octavia clearly needs to give me lessons on how to effectively hold a conversation with Vinyl.
Lyra's mind wandered further, thinking more about Vinyl. She knew a bit about Vinyl's personality from seeing her today and what Octavia had told her. It really wasn't enough for Lyra.
One thing she had noticed was Vinyl also possessed some type of interest in music of some variety, more than likely electronic. Lyra was sure that could work in her favor.
As the last note of the song drew itself out, Lyra decided that everything that day could have gone worse.
Trying to be a sister was hard work, but tomorrow was full of opportunities for her to try again.